The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1887-10-13
Jobbery by the Reform" Administration

DEMOCRATS ONLY CAN BID For TIE COM
PLEIiON OF TIE AUGUSTA PUBLIC BUILDING.
The attempt of the Treasury Department to
give the contract to erect the siiperstructure of
the new public building in Augusta to DEM
! ocratic concern and prevent it from falling into
Republican hands causes much indignation
here. says an Augusta special to the Boston
Journal. In the spring the department, ac-
cordng to law. advertised for bids covering
material ard labor Of TIE superstructure The
Bodwell Granite Company of IIallowel of
which Governor Bodwell is President, and
other companies. supposng the advertisement
bona flde. made their figures and sent them in.
On the 10th day of June some of the Demo-
Gratis OF Augusta addressed Il letter to the
Secretary OF the Treasury urging that the
superstructurc be built rs the basement and
sub-ba>ement had been, that is, the Govern
ment contracting for the material and hiring
the labor by the day. and in their letter assign
ing the reason why this should he done, they
alleged that better material could be obtained
and the cost of the building would be less, and
then added this: circumstances here are such
that We are satisfied if the work is done bv
contract it will go into the hands of parties
hostile to the present Administration and result
i'll political jobbcry, instead of being kept
under the control of men who desire to pro-
This letter was signed by Postmaster l.. b.
Fowler, Mr.. f. G. Allen and many other DEM
ocrats, and it was Il proposition which simply
meant that the building must be placed in the
hands of the Democrats that it might be used
for political purposes. The Treasury Depart
ment at the solicitation of these gentlemen re-
jected the bids and changed the plan of con-
struction so that the erection should be by dav
labor. Such "A change was never before heard
OF in the history of public building construc-
ton, but it WAS in the interest of the Democ-
racy and would aid the party in Augusta. An
excuse offered by the department was that the
bids did not come within the appropriation.
Yet the Haowell Granite Company offered to
finish the building for the amount of the aI-
preparation remaining.
The next move of the department was to
advertise for bids for material alone. and the
Bodwell Granite Company, still having faith
in the department, put in its figures. When
the bids were opened Col. |. $. Bangs of the
Dodlin Granite Company, Norridgewock, was
the lowest bidder. He was also Republican.
This would never answer. and all the bids
We're promptly rejected. A third time the
IIallowell Granite Company was asked to bid,
but as it was rather late In the day to espouse
the Democratic faith, Gov. BodWell wrote a
letter to Mr.. W. G. Frcret, Supervising Archi-
tect of the Treasury Department, in which he
declined to comply with the request and said
that the company had already made two bids
both of which had been rejected, and thought
''from correspondence which recently occurred
between several citizens of Augusta and Hon.
J. ii. Maynard, Acting Secretary of the Treas
urv, that it would be useless to maketfurthel
bids"